A symbol of southern Arizona is the Saguaro cactus. Nothing says “desert” like the silhouette of a saguaro.

And I planned to sketch some specimens. Two locations offered plenty of specimens: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and the aptly named Saguaro National Park.

Saguaros are fun to sketch because they are tall and easy to find, bend in predictable ways, and do not run away when closely approached. Just don’t get too close, they are a bit thorny.

The Saguaro that caught my attention were two at the Desert Museum. They had “arms” spread wide as if looking for a hug. I resisted the urge and sketched the two instead.

It reminds me of the figurative language I teach my fourth graders. To illustrate personification, we use the example, “The cactus was waving to the cars passing by.” I illustrate the example with a roadside saguaro waving, with motion commas, as a car drives down the road.

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a great place for cactus viewing and birding. It was great to see the state bird of Arizona, the cactus wren, perched on a saguaro that I took out my sketchbook and sketched.

I have birded southern Arizona a handful of times and seen most of the birds that live in and around the museum. But there was one bird that somehow had evaded my lifelist: the gilded flicker.

I arrived at the museum about 15 minutes before it’s 9 AM opening time. My plan was to bird the area until I found a gilded flicker before entering the museum. I had a few other backup locations to try to find this woodpecker, but I know it had recently been reported in this area and I wasn’t going to give up easily.

Some life birds can be very difficult to find taking many attempts and many hours of searching before you put that species in your view. But sometimes life birds seemed to just fall in your lap, such as the case with the gilded flicker.

I walked to the edge of the parking lot and heard the call of a flicker. To my right I spotted a flicker, perched on a saguaro of course. Lifer!!

The featured sketch is from the eastern section of Saguaro National Park at Javelina Rocks.